Patent applications in southwestern Yunnan province reached 4,089 in 2008, up 31.6 percent year-on-year, with 2,021 patents being granted during the period, according to SIPO. Invention patent applications reached 1,474, surging 45.4 percent over the previous year, while utility model patent applications increased 26.3 percent to 1,389. Applications for design patents rose 23.3 percent to 1,226.

Among the applicants, companies filed 1,082 patent applications, up 33.4 percent; scientific institutions handed in 296 applications, up 43.7 percent; universities and colleges submitted 773, surging 219.4 percent; individuals filed 1,895 applications, up 4 percent.

(China Daily 02/16/2009 page9)